Arizona sheriff to take stand at profiling trial

FILE - In this April 3, 2012 file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio listens to one of his attorneys during a news conference in Phoenix. Arpaio is expected to take the witness stand Tuesday, July 24, 2012, and face allegations that his trademark immigration sweeps amounted to racial profiling against Hispanics. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
— AP

FILE - In this April 3, 2012 file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio listens to one of his attorneys during a news conference in Phoenix. Arpaio is expected to take the witness stand Tuesday, July 24, 2012, and face allegations that his trademark immigration sweeps amounted to racial profiling against Hispanics. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
/ AP

"He sends thank-you letters because he is an elected official," Tim Casey, the lawyer leading Arpaio's defense, said during opening arguments.

In an August 2008 letter, a woman wrote about a Sun City restaurant: "From the staff at the register to the staff back in the kitchen area, all I heard was Spanish - except when they haltingly spoke to a customer." The letter ended with a suggestion that the sheriff investigate.

Arpaio made a handwritten note in the margins saying, "letter thank you for info will look into it" and that the complaint should be sent to aide Brian Sands, who selects locations for sweeps, with a notation saying "for our operation." The sheriff's office launched a sweep two weeks later in Sun City.

Earlier in 2008, the sheriff received a letter from a man who complained that police in nearby Mesa hadn't approached day laborers to find out whether they were in the country legally. Plaintiff's lawyers say Arpaio made a notation in the margins about a thank-you note and marked it to draw Sands' attention.

Plaintiff's lawyers said Arpaio got another 2008 letter urging a sweep in Mesa and noting that the leader of the city's police union was Hispanic.

The lawyers said the sheriff wrote "I will be going into Mesa" and sent a copy of the complaint to Sands. Shortly thereafter, the sheriff's office launched a sweep in Mesa and noted in a news release that the sheriff was sending deputies to Mesa "in keeping with his promise to the public," the lawyers said.